Hometown Lending grows
into new office space

Snohomish County Business Journal/KIMBERLY HILDEN Hometown Lending recently celebrated its move to 10025 19th Ave. SE in south Everett. The 15,000-square-foot building, developed in part by Hometown Lending owner Curt Lillibridge, also is home to sister company Silver Lake Escrow and Hughes Dental Group.

By Kimberly Hilden
SCBJ Assistant Editor

Hometown Lending has a new home of its own.

The mortgage company, which began nine years ago as Silver Lake Mortgage, held an open house in March at its new south Everett location, 10025 19th Ave. SE, one block from — and thousands of square feet larger than — its former office, said Marketing Director Rachel Oxford.

“We’ve been planning this for a couple of years,” she said, noting the need for more space as the company grew from a “mom-and-pop shop” with a handful of loan officers to an operation with 16 branches and 130 employees throughout Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Nevada.

The new building, developed in part by Hometown Lending’s owner and founder, Curt Lillibridge, includes 8,000 square feet for the company’s 31 Everett employees on the ground floor — more than double the space of the company’s former office, said Jeff Judy, Hometown Lending’s general manager.

Upstairs, the building houses a dental practice, with 3,700 square feet of medical/professional space available for lease, while downstairs is Hometown’s sister company, Silver Lake Escrow and a venture that is close to the hearts of the Hometown Lending team: the Solid Rock Coffee Co.

Expected to open in mid-May, the cafe/deli is a partnership between Judy and Lillibridge, with 25 percent of profits going to nonprofit, youth-oriented organizations, Oxford said.

“A lot of our employees give back to the community,” she said, noting that Lillibridge volunteers for Jackson High School’s baseball team and Judy is on the board of Seattle Pacific University and Snohomish County Youth for Christ, among other groups.

The desire to help extends to Hometown Lending’s business practices as well, Oxford said.

“Our sole way of marketing is doing business by referral and taking care of clients and relationships that have been established,” she said. “... We really want to help them use their money well.”

As the company has grown alongside a hot housing market, Hometown Lending has worked hard to keep internal communications strong, Oxford said, with meetings held monthly for local loan officers and companywide meetings held every other month in Bellevue.

Despite a reported slowdown in the national housing market, Puget Sound home sales remain strong, and Oxford said the company anticipates a continued strong refinancing market as well.

With home loans, “there’s always a demand,” she said.

For more information, call 425-337-7400 or go online to www.hometownlending.us.